


Mean Girls

by Oreo_Believer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bullies, Clint Barton IS A DAD, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Not Beta Read, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Time Skips, We Die Like Men, a little fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26958055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oreo_Believer/pseuds/Oreo_Believer
Summary: As quickly as she’d made friends with Peter’s friends, Ned and MJ, she also made enemies in the form of the typical mean girls squad. Their leader, Valerie, scoped Wanda out on the girl’s first day, and she and her posse had been harassing the girl ever since.Wanda always tried her best to hide how it made her feel. Besides, it wasn’t that bad, right?———Or, Wanda get’s bullied and goes to Clint for help.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Wanda Maximoff, Wanda Maximoff & Peter Parker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Mean Girls

**Author's Note:**

> In this story, Wanda is a little older than Peter but they’re pretty much the same age and they go to school together. 
> 
> ———
> 
> I wrote this on my flight today while I was supposed to do humanities homework because I had this idea and it sounded way more interesting that my homework did.

If you asked any of Wanda’s friends how her time at Midtown had gone so far, they would tell you that it had been horrible for the young witch. When Tony Stark had started paying to send Peter there, he offered to pay for Wanda to attend as well. She hadn’t really wanted to attend school, she was worried other students would think she was dumb because of her broken English (and even though it really had improved, it was still hard for her to speak clearly with her accent sometimes), but Peter had talked her into it. 

As quickly as she’d made friends with Peter’s friends, Ned and MJ, she also made enemies in the form of the typical mean girls squad. Their leader, Valerie, scoped Wanda out on the girl’s first day, and she and her posse had been harassing the girl ever since. 

Wanda always tried her best to hide how it made her feel, not just from her friends, but also from her dad, Clint Barton. 

He had taken the girl in after the incident with Ultron and, to avoid the girl getting lost in another foster system, adopted her. The two were really close, but Wanda didn’t want him to have to worry about her too much. 

Besides, things weren’t that bad, right?

—————————

Wanda and Peter walked into school just before the bell rang. She quickly shed the gloves and hat she’d been wearing. The February day was a bitter cold, but Midtown kept the heater running high. 

Beside her, Peter cursed. “I forgot my math homework at home.”

Wanda laughed, opening her backpack and taking out her math folder. “No you didn’t, I grabbed it for you on the way out.” 

A grin spread across the boy’s face, warming Wanda’s heart. “You know me so well.” 

“Too well,” she jabbed back. When she looked up, her smile fell. She recovered quickly, but not quick enough for Peter to notice and follow her gaze to Valerie and her squad. 

“Wanda, you need to tell someone about them.” 

She gave Peter a sad smile, and decided to deflect the comment. “I do not know what you’re talking about.”

Before Peter could respond, the bell for class rang, and that was the end of that. 

—————————

Wanda was spared from any tormenting until the end of the day. She was in the bathroom fixing her hair when she was cornered by Valerie. 

“Your bodyguards finally ditch you? Doesn’t surprise me. I wouldn’t want to be seen with you, either.”

Wanda ignored her, as well as the urge to bite back something sarcastic. (“You’re with me now, no?”) Instead, she opted to continue brushing her hair.

Valerie slapped the brush out of her hands, and it went flying into the wall. 

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you to speak when spoken to, bitch?”

Wanda stayed silent. She’d always been the quiet one, whether it was with Pietro or Peter. She didn’t bother entertaining Valerie with a response, instead she opted to move to pick up her brush, which turned out to be a mistake. 

Valerie shoved her onto the ground, which made Wanda yelp out in surprise. “Oh yeah, I forgot. You don’t know English.”

The bully kicked Wanda in the side, and the walked out of the bathroom. 

Wanda was so thankful to finally be alone, she barely even felt the searing pain in her side. She stood up and grabbed the brush, which had broken in half. Sighing, she left the bathroom. 

She checked her phone as she walked towards the exit of the high school. She had one text from a group chat with Peter and their friends telling Wanda that they had decathlon practice after school, so she shouldn’t wait for Peter before leaving. The other text was from Happy, telling her he was there to take her to the compound. 

—————————

Thankfully, none of the other Avengers ever realized the girl was in pain, so Wanda never had to explain anything. She’d considered telling them, but ruled against it. She figured that Valerie and the other girls weren’t nearly as bad as most of the people Wanda had fought against, both before and after joining the Avengers. Besides, she didn’t want them to think she was weak for not being able to handle another 16 year old. 

She did, however, ask Clint for a new brush. Thankfully, he didn’t ask any questions, just muttered “girls” under his breath with a fond expression and told her he’d get her one the next day.

—————————

As the weeks went on, things got worse and worse for the young Sokovian. Valarie’s attacks got worse and worse, and soon the teen barely felt the physical damage she was suffering through. 

However, she could feel her mental state getting worse and worse. She knew others could see it too. She smiled and laughed less, she didn’t do her school work, and she barely left her room at the compound other than to go to school. 

The Avengers noticed something was up, but they couldn’t get her to talk about it. They all figured it had something to do with her brother, or maybe it was just a normal teenager thing (they didn’t have much experience in that department, other than Peter, and they knew he had his own plethora of secrets). So, they figured, eventually, if she needed to talk about it, she would. 

But she didn’t. Wanda spent all her time in her room, under her covers, unable to stop hearing Valerie’s insults playing through her head. 

“You’re a sad excuse for a human.”

“The only reason you have friends is because they all pity you.”

“Nobody likes you.” 

“None of your family wanted to live with you so they offed themselves, that’s why you’re an orphan.” 

“Maybe you should join them.”

—————————

One day, when Peter was spending a week at the compound, Wanda broke down. She was looking at herself in the mirror, covering her bruises in foundation, and she realized how bad it had gotten. 

She started crying, and once the dam had broken, she couldn’t stop. She knew she had allowed this to go on for too long, but she didn’t know how to make it stop. 

She heard a knock on the bathroom door, and then the young boy’s voice. “Wanda? Is that you? What’s going on?”

She raised her hand, using her magic to open the door for him. When he walked in and spotted her on the floor (when had she fallen?) his face immediately filled with worry, which made her cry even harder. 

He rushed to her side, pulling her into a hug. “FRIDAY, get Mr. Barton.” 

Her eyes went wide. She didn’t want to explain this to her father, she didn’t want him to be disappointed in her, or think she was weak. “FRIDAY, override!”

Peter looked down at her, confusion evident on his face. “What are you doing? You need to tell him what’s going on, he can help.” 

“No! I can handle it! I don’t want him to see me like this!” 

“Wanda-”

“Peter!” she snapped, and then immediately regretted it when she sensed his hurt, even if he hid it well enough. 

He shook his head. “I’m sorry Wanda, but you need to tell someone about this. If you don’t, I will.” 

With that, he got up and walked out of the bathroom, leaving Wanda to herself to think of a game plan. 

—————————

It took the witch a couple of hours to build up the nerves to go talk to Clint. Logically she knew that he wouldn’t be upset with her, but the little voice in her head that was responsible for her anxiety wouldn’t stop nagging her on, telling her that he’d be disappointed she couldn’t stick up for herself. 

When she finally calmed herself down enough, she asked FRIDAY where Clint was. 

“Mr. Barton is currently in the common room with Ms. Romoanov, Mr. Rogers, and Boss.”

She sighed. “Is he busy?” 

“Mr. Rogers and Boss both said Mr. Barton is busy. Mr. Barton insists he will not be filling out the latest mission report, therefore his schedule is free.”

Wanda couldn’t help but chuckle, which made her feel a little better. “Could you please send him up here?”

“Of course, Ms. Maximoff.”

She took a deep breath, readying herself for the conversation ahead of her. 

—————————

Wanda was not expecting her father to fall through the vents and onto her bed, but she figured she should have. Vent crawling is one of his hobbies at the compound, and he was constantly breaking them. 

She gave him her best ‘done’ look, and he sheepishly grinned back at her. “Sorry, kid.” 

He sat up and dusted his hands off, slinging an arm over her shoulder and pulling her close to him. She leaned into the touch and leaned against him. 

They both sat in silence for awhile, thinking to themselves. Wanda was about to bail on her plan when Clint softly spoke up. 

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? You’ve been very quiet lately, even for you, and I feel like I barely see you outside of this room anymore. What’s going on?” 

That was all it took for tears to start spilling down Wanda’s cheeks again, and she rubbed her eyes, trying to make it stop. Clint repositioned himself and moved her hands away from her face, pulling her into a hug. 

She didn’t think she could talk right now, so instead she released a string of her magic, requesting access to the archer’s mind. When they first started getting close after Sokovia, he had been hesitant to let her back into his head. Now, Clint immediately let her in. 

“I’m sorry, dad,” she thought. “I wanted to tell you but I didn’t want you to think less of me, but now things are really bad and I don’t know what to do.”

“What’s going on?” he asked aloud. Wanda always told him he could just think his replies, but he insisted that voicing his thoughts helped him keep track of the conversation. 

“I’m being bullied,” she thought. Clint immediately tensed, which made the crying start up again.

“Please don’t be mad at me,” she whispered. 

Clint pulled back. “Wanda, look at me.” When she looked up, she saw his hurt expression. “Honey, I could never be mad at you for something like this. It’s not your fault, okay?”

Logically, she knew that, but hearing Clint say it took a heavy weight off of the young girl’s shoulders. She felt back into his arms, and they stayed like that for awhile. 

When they pulled back, Clint looked her up and down, noticing a few bruises that she hadn’t covered up her. “I’m almost scared to ask this, but what has this bully been doing?”

Wanda shrugged, picking at a lose thread on her shirt. “Everything. She beats me when nobody is around. But she’s also very mean when she speaks.”

She chanced a look up, and was met with one of the most angry expressions she’s ever seen on her father. 

“I’m gonna kill her. Nobody can hit my kid and get away with it.”

“The hitting is not foreign to me, I’m used to fighting in battles or in Sokovia before I met you. The insults are worse.”

“What does she say?” he asked quietly. Wanda thought about not telling him, but she also knew it would make her feel so much better to just get it all out there. 

“She tells me that I’m a useless orphan. She tells me that I’m too stupid to be in that school with all the smart kids and that I’m just there because they pitied me. She tells me that my family died because they couldn’t stand me and that I should join them.” 

Clint gasped. “Oh, honey...”

“And I know I shouldn’t believe her but she says it so often and the more she said it the more it started to make sense and I couldn’t stop thinking about it and eventually I couldn’t stop saying it to myself until it felt like it was true and-”

“Wanda, you need to breathe, ok? Can you do that for me?” 

Her eyes snapped open. She hadn’t realized she was panicking before Clint said that, but now that she was aware of her hyperventilating she couldn’t stop.

Clint pulled her close to his chest and started exaggerating his breathes, making it easier for Wanda to follow. Slowly, her breathing returned to normal. 

“Honey, I know it’s hard to believe it, but none of that is true, okay? You’re very bright, you deserve to be in school with Peter and the rest of the kids. And you definitely aren’t better off dead, even if she constantly implies it. Please don’t ever think that.”

She nodded against his chest. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to think I was weak for not being able to handle it on my own.”

“Wanda, I could never think you’re weak. You’re one of the strongest kids I’ve ever met. I’ll never think less of you, especially because of something like this. You can always come to me if stuff like this is bothering you.”

Wanda smiled. She closed her eyes, exhausted from the events of the day, and from all of the crying. “Thanks, dad.”

“Anytime, kiddo.”

—————————

Wanda spent the rest of that night giving out any information on Valerie and her friends that she could think of. The Avengers initially had the same response Clint had, which led to Wanda constantly reminding them that it’s illegal to kill minors, or anyone for that matter.

When they settled down, Tony immediately hacked into the school records of one Valerie McCrane. He was able to hack into the school cameras as well, and pull up video of Valerie and Wanda’s interactions. Once he had a strong case against the girl, Tony emailed it all to Midtown’s principal along with a strongly worded letter that made Wanda feel bad for the man. The principal wrote back almost immediately ensuring that Valerie would be expelled. Another weight was lifted off Wanda’s shoulders. 

—————————

That night, Wanda couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t stop feeling bad about snapping at Peter earlier. She knew that he was only worried and trying to help her. 

She walked down the hallway to Peter’s room, softly knocking on his door. She heard a muffled “come in.”

She walked into the room, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He was tucked into his covers, a thick blanket wrapping around his head. She thought he looked pretty adorable like this. “I hope I did not wake you.” 

“Nah, I couldn’t sleep anyways. I feel guilty for earlier.”

Wanda’s eyes went wide. “Why do you feel guilty? I snapped at you when you were just trying to help.”

“I feel bad I forced you to talk to Clint about it, and that I left you on the bathroom floor when you were clearly in distress.”

Wanda smiled softly. “I’m glad you forced me to tell Clint. Now I won’t have to deal with Valerie anymore. Besides, I know you were just trying to help me. I’m sorry for being such a jerk about it.”

Peter reached out and hugged her, which she gladly reciprocated. 

“Thank you,” she said softly.

He chuckled. “Ah, what’re friends for?”

“I’m glad you’re my friend.”

—————————

Wanda’s life had really gotten better since Valerie was expelled. The other girls in her group were too scared to do anything to Wanda, mostly in fear of meeting a similar fate. Peter, Ned, and MJ always looked out for her now, even more than before, and she was grateful that she had such good friends. 

She felt that she and Clint had also gotten closer. He always made she that she knew how much she was valued, and that he loved her. She was eternally grateful for him, and the other Avengers. 

She learned that there will always be struggles in life, and there will always be people who are waiting to knock you down. But, she also learned that, if you surround yourself with the right people, there will always be people to pick you up, too.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
